Barbara Dana is an actress and playwright. When she was 17, she made her Off-Broadway debut in Arthur Laurents' A CLEARING IN THE WOODS (1959). Other Off-Broadway acting credits include: SECOND CITY: A VIEW FROM UNDER THE BRIDGE (1964), EH? (1966), ROOM SERVICE (1970/1986), and JOAN OF LORRAINE (1974). Her playwriting credits include: WAR IN PARAMUS (2005) and WHAT KEEPS US GOING (2008). Both of these were produced at HB Playwrights.  WAR IN PARAMUS was produced by Abingdon Theatre Company (2005) and was published in the anthology “New Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2006.”

Dana was born in New York City. In third grade, she began writing stories about a group of animal friends, titled “Fatso and his Friends,” for the school newspaper. Since then, she has become an award-winning author. Some of her works are: “Rutgers and the Water-Snouts,” “Zucchini,” “Necessary Parties,” “Young Joan,” and “A Voice of Her Own: Becoming Emily Dickinson.” She won the Washington Irving Children's Book Choice Award, Maude Hart Lovelace Award, and the Land of Enchantment Children's Book Choice Award for “Zucchini.” “Necessary Parties” was an American Library Association Best Book. In addition to Off-Broadway, she has worked in film, television, on Broadway, and in regional theatre. Dana’s film credits include: Popi (1969), The In-Laws (1979), Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981, her script), and Raising Flagg (2006). Her television credits include: “The United States Steel Hour,” “An Enemy of the People,” “Sesame Street,” “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” “A Matter of Principle,” and “Law & Order.” Her Broadway credits include: Enter Laughing (1963), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(1964, also national tour), and Where’s Daddy? (1966). She was previously married to Alan Arkin and they raised three sons: Anthony, Matthew, and Adam.